So, we have noticed more and more people who are against stopping the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan using the term “Hippy Liberal Idiot” to categorize those of us who are staunchly against the continued aggressions in the Middle East and want to see our soldiers brought home immediately. Is this really the best defense these individuals can stand on? What is wrong with people? Instead of coming together, discussing our differences and trying to find a common ground, they stand in judgment of those of us on the other side of the fence. Isn't resorting to name-calling falling back on the sandbox mentality? Seems to be something those who ignore the unfolding truths and knowledge resort to time and time again.
Should we stand on our own side, point our fingers (or better yet, raise a finger in defiance as we think this is the level of intelligence they would better understand) and label you a racist supporter of a murderous President and a devotee to the financial gain of warfare? Think about it, seriously consider the basis of your argument. You are conveying anger at different nationalities, over what?
Because they are different?
Because our President, and his cohorts, say they are doing wrong?
Our leaders have been called out on their lies regarding the justification for the latest wars. The original reason, that Saddam Hussein was hiding those dangerous, yet ultimately fictional Weapons of Mass Destruction, has been proven false countless times. The original criminal, Osama bin Laden, still wanders, supposedly, the intricate cave systems in the mountains of Afghanistan, or Pakistan, or Bora Bora, wherever he is hiding this week. We were conquering the Taliban for the good of the Afghan people, but they are marching back and, with warmer weather months away, sure to make life difficult for the invading horde.
Is it any wonder so much anger is fomented against America around the world, but most especially in that neighborhood called the Middle East? Our reasons for going to war varies by the week. If one excuse does not work, the masters of spin at the State and Defense Departments are quick to circulate the latest reason that is broadcast across state run television, also known as the big networks, for the masses to feed on.
Through all of this, though, the defenders of the war have cast a blind eye to the atrocities being wrought by our military and the hired mercenaries brought in to do the work too dirty for the military. Blackwater and our military is supposedly there to help the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, help these poor people and bring them into the 21st century, American-style. Of course, after some token kids are given a good education for the cameras to record and a hospital is built on par with those found in New York and Los Angeles, the door will be open for western society to save these poor souls who have been languishing in the economic despair they have suffered in for years. Bring them their DirecTv and Coca-Cola!
Instead, because they actually decided to put up a fight and not go silently into the capitalistic night that we have coalesced to, the fight continues and innocent families are dying daily. Some of those deaths can be attributed to those on the other side who also want, like Americans, war to continue. After all, a fight can only be wrought when there are two aggressors willing to tussle for the prize. But, a large majority of the civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan are the result of American actions. If you need proof, read up on your recent history and study up on Fallujah. That is just one example of many.
Do you really think killing innocent civilians, young and old, women and children, to weed out a few terrorists, is helping them?
Take their role for a moment. If an invading army came into your home, brought death and destruction, while delivering veiled promises of prosperity in the future, would you not harbor anger and fight against them? Is it not the patriotic duty of every citizen to fight for their nation? I seem to remember studying something about ‘don’t tread on me’ in some history book at some point in my life. I guess history and defense of liberty, justice and freedom only counts when it comes from an American perspective. Anyone else who dares use our words against us is, of course, a terrorist.
The definition of a terrorist is always one-sided. I would bet there are quite a few people who have been run out of their homes by Blackwater and the American military who think they are the terrorists. I wonder how many of the men and women who have been renditioned by the American military and Central Lack of Intelligence Agency were simply defending their homes and deemed terrorists for doing nothing more than standing up against the aggressors?
These, of course, are questions we will likely never get answered, at least, not by Western media. We are not going to be told stories of the wrongs done by our boys and girls who have volunteered, then were stop-lossed, into fighting these needless wars. We will be put to bed with comforting stories about how we are fighting the good fight, bringing democracy to those who need it and stopping evil in its tracks. So, to many, the wars are a good thing. If they are such a good thing, why are we renditioning these supposed terrorists in secret with mysterious flights through foreign airports to countries like Romania and Egypt? Then, of course, we can sleep better at night because these atrocities are not happening on American soil.
Life for us, the
liberal hippy idiots of America, has become a double-edged sword. On one end, we stand up for our ideals and continue to insist upon an end to the wars and a demand that those who have brought the wars upon the world be brought to justice. War crimes have been committed and, like the Serbs and Germans before them, they must be brought to account for their actions. On the other end, we do support our military and understand the reason why we must defend our borders. We do insist, though, that our military be brought back within our borders. In a world where fighter jets can be deployed to any position in the world within hours, there is no reason we need secret bases around the world. To defend America’s interests does not necessitate, nor allow, imperialistic tendencies to rule over common sense.
We, the
LHIoA, will take responsibility for our actions and beliefs. One thing that is not our fault is the chasm that has been thrust into the culture and society of America. That rests solely on those who have propagated the status quo for the past seven years. Personally, I think the word liberal drives a chill down their spine that escapes as continued frustration at the progress the rest of the world is taking away from America. It is these people who graduated from the demise of the Cold War and saw George Bush the Senior’s prophetic promise of a New World Order as the right of America to lead the next century into a world more American.
Yet, as reality begins to set in, and the luster of that dream tarnishes more and more everyday, the hawks flap their wings in disgust and cast blame on everyone else. Their anger at rising gas prices, escalating grocery costs and ballooning mortgages is projected on those countries where the oil comes from, to where jobs have been outsourced and to where the money is disappearing. Hating a country because of gas prices or hating a nationality because they create most of the products filling your home is nothing short of racism. I find it ironic that a nation full of people who seemingly pride themselves on finding the higher ground on racism after the end of slavery and resulting equal rights that came to be, still cannot find the high ground with the rest of the world.
So, in closing, are we the
hippy liberals, really the idiots? All we want is a peaceful world where our country does not act as the all-mighty war-mongerer it has become. We want the focus brought upon the corporate elitists who have found it convenient to send jobs overseas to create the cheaper product to stock shelves. We want leaders who are held accountable for their actions. We want the ideals that America was founded and built upon to return to the forefront. Most of all, we want the rest of this country to escape out of their self-induced comas and realize that they are not the cream of humanity’s crop, but are simply a part of the global village and need to start behaving as such. Until that day, I will continue to be a
proud, hippy, liberal idiot.
